Gerrit Cole feels rehab coming together with Yankees return decision looming

BOSTON — Gerrit Cole confidently strolled into the cramped visiting clubhouse at Fenway Park on Saturday afternoon with a big smile on his face.He insisted it was not because he knew whether his next start would come with the Yankees after successfully completing his third rehab start on Friday night in Rochester.“I had a mechanical problem on my plane, so I wasn’t sure I was going to get here,” Cole said with a grin.“Then worked some magic and got here.”Cole may not have to work as much magic to be pitching at Yankee Stadium against the Orioles on Wednesday or Thursday.Cole and manager Aaron Boone both said a decision on that has not yet been made, but conversations will pick up in earnest over the next few days to make the final call. In the meantime, Cole was pleased with how he felt physically on Saturday, a day after striking out 10 across 4 ⅓ innings with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre while building his pitch count up to 70 — which would put him in line to throw around 80-85 pitches his next time out.”It feels like it’s coming together,” Cole said.

“Regardless, I don’t anticipate coming back with 100 pitches, so there’s still going to be a ways to go.But the closer and closer you get, the more excited you get.”Cole indicated the decision over whether or not he needs one more rehab start will be centered around his continued recovery as well as what the “computer” revealed about his stuff, velocity and location on Friday night.“My eyes said it was pretty good,” Cole said.

“But you just got to be thorough in that situation.”While Cole will have a major say in what comes next, both he and Boone said the decision would be a collaborative one.“There’s a lot of good and smart people involved,” Boone said.“I think we’ve all done a really nice job so far in his buildup and getting him ready.

So we’ll have those conversations honestly and openly and Gerrit right involved in that.”The initial concern when it b...